A whistle-stop on referee's route to the top

Whangarei referee Marius Botha had his hands full as the whistle blower for the thrilling Southern Districts Premier Club Rugby semifinal between the Western Sharks and Horahora at Farmlands Park.
Following an all-in brawl between the two feisty teams in the first half, Botha  issued two red cards - one to each side for "punching, retaliation and taking the law into their own hands" and seven yellow cards - but it was just another day at work for the 25-year-old.
"It was just the status of the game - being a semifinal - that made it slightly more difficult to referee," he said.
There will be more challenging games to referee in the near future for Botha, who was recently selected in the National Zone Squad.
For the past few seasons, Botha has been refereeing premier club rugby games in Northland after a strange twist of fate landed the South African in Whangarei.
In 2007, the former first five eighth was playing rugby at home in Cape Town when he injured his shoulder, which ended his playing days.
"I was chatting with my dad, Marius Botha snr, who was a top referee in Cape Town, and he suggested I give refereeing a go - so I did," Botha said.
Since making that decision, he has not looked back. Two years ago, he left South Africa, moved to Whangarei and threw himself into officiating games with Northland Rugby Referees Association, with aims of working his way up the pecking order.
"I want to get to international level - and one day I would like to ref a World Cup game," he said.
With the average age of referees getting younger, Botha still has plenty of time on his side. He has already started making waves in the officials community with his recent selection in the national squad, to referee games within the Northern zone (which includes the King Country to the Far North).
"Being the newbie in the squad I am not sure which games they will give me to referee - but it will be games within the zone ranging from Provincial B to Under-18 representative sides - I could end up with any of those."
The development side and age group representative season runs hand in hand with the ITM Cup schedule, which kicks off this week.
"If I'm not refereeing any of those rep sides, I will be officiating in the ITM Cup at Northland's home games," he added.
 Botha will begin his appointments within the Northern zone on August 21, refereeing the Auckland versus Auckland Under-18 A match.